Displaying draining, and crushing apparatus for tin cans and the like



Feb.v27, 1940. 2,191,488-

DISPLAYING, DRAINING, AND CRUSHING APPARATUS FOR TIN CANS AND THE LIKED. A. McCQWAN Filed A ril 22, 1957 Ii 'EJQ w wawgi Q'III q Patented Feb.27 1940 l APPARATUS LIKE STATES; f

DISPLAYING, DRAINING,

FOB TIN CANS AND THE AND I CBUSHING David A. McGowan, Toronto, Ontario,Canadav Application April 22, 1937,- Serial No. 13 8,479 In Canada April23, 1936 I 1- Claim. (01. 153-10) It has been usual for a long timetodispense oil for motor vehicles at service stations in glass 1 bottlesor other open containers. Recently, I, however, the practice ofdispensing oil in metal containerasuch astin cans, has been adopted. Theiull cans, of course, occupy considerable storage space, which cannot beavoided, but dif- I iiculty arises in storing or disposing of empty 1cans. Further, there is also some wastage of oil 1D due to the fact thatthe customer does not desire to wait for the cans to completely drainand the cans are discarded with the all remaining therein. p My objecttherefore is to devise apparatus which may be used to salvage thisotherwise waste oil from the cans and which may then be used to collapsethe cans so as'to occupy less. storage space.

A further object is toprovide in conjunction with said apparatus displayracks for the full cans, which racks may be readily picked up andcarried from one position to another with the cans thereon, instead ofhaving to handle the cans individually as is now the case; Itwill beseen that the use of portable racks permits the:

racks to be taken undercover with the cans thereon when the servicestation is closed and also per I mits the racks being carried to aposition convenient for use and then carried back. to the apparatus sothat the empty cans maybe drained and collapsed at a more convenienttime.

I attain my object by means of the constructions hereinafter describedand illustrated in the accompanying drawingin which-- Fig. l is an endelevation of the apparatus;

Fig. 2 a side elevation with the display rack and side cover plateremoved; I

Fig. 3 a side elevation illustrating more particularly the display rack;v

Fig. 4 a detail in plan of oneoi the can sup,- porting bars;

Fig. 5 a front view or" the same; and

Fig. 6 a side elevation of a display rack tilted in the oppositedirection to that shown in Fig. 1.

In the drawing like numerals of reference indicate corresponding partsin the different figures.

I indicates a supporting frame which may be.

formedof angle or other structural metal, and of suitable shape tosupport the various parts. The

frame is preferably enclosed with end and side plates, the side platesbeing preferably detachable to permit access into the interior as wellas to facilitate their removal for the painting of the signs or displaysthereon.

On the top of the frame is positioned a hood-or housing 2 provided witha hinged door 3 at each n The frame ,i is provided 7 mechanism forcollapsing the cans.

end to permit closed position.

with three superimposed supporting framesor open platforms 4, 5 and 6."The upper platform 4'15 provided with cross bars 7 so positioned that anoil can 8 may be positioned in tilted position, as shown in dotted linesin Fig. 2, to drain off any oilfclinging to the inside of the. can. 7Accommodation. is preferably arranged so that two cans may besimultaneously drained. Each can, when being emptied, is provided with adetachable spout 9, and this spout is allowed. to remain on the canwhile it. is being drained. v

The drainage passes to a sump l9, preferably removably supportedon theplatform 5. From this sump the'oil passes through a pipe H to acontainer l2 removably mounted on' the platform 6, said container beingprovided with a funnel mouth it to iacilitatecatching'the oil from thepipe ll; It'will be seen that simple means "are provided for salvagingthe oil remaining in the ,cans.

After the cans have been drained it is desired to collapse them so thatthey occupy less storage space as well as putting them into a conditionwhere they would be worth while handling to reclaim the metal thereinfor re-use.

I therefore support on the frame I suitable I V In a suitable guide I4is mounted the stem I5 of a pressure head I G. The pressure head isactuated by means of a lever l1 pivoted on the frame, the lever having apawl or dog'l8 pivoted thereon which engages the teethof a rack I9 onthe stem i5. By operating the lever H, the plunger may be raised and isheld in raised position by a second pawl or dog 20 pivoted on thesupport. A-rod 2| has one end connected to this pawl 29, its other endextending through the end of the support where it has a spring 22mounted thereon tending to hold the rod with the pawl 203inrack-engaging entrance to its interior. Springs tare provided tendingwhom the doors 3 inv position. A stop 23 is supported by'the frame 4 3with which stop the top of the can engages.

'When it is desired to collapse can, it is placed on the pressure headl6 below the stop 23, the end of the casing being provided with anopening 24 for this purpose. The lever I1 is then operated to raise thehead step by step, the

pawl 01" dog- 20 supporting the plunger while the lever is'positionedfor 'each'subsequent stroke. When the can has been sufiicientlycollapsed, the rod 2! is actuated to. disengage the pawl or dog 20 fromthe rack. In moving away from the rack, the upper end of the pawl 21?moves over in front of the pawl l8 and holds the latter out ofengagement with the rack thus allowing the pressure head to drop. Thecollapsed can may then beremoved, although I find it convenient tosimply shove it out of the way by another can to be collapsed, thecollapsed can 8 falling-onto the platform 63 or a receptacle carriedthereby. g

The top of the head 56 and the under side of the stop 23 are preferablyprovided with an annular groove to prevent slipping of the can duringthe collapsing operation.

I desire to combine with the apparatus above described means fordisplaying a plurality of full cans. At each side of the support l ismounted a can support, each of which is formed of a metal frame 525 ofinverted U-forrn, as shown in Fig. 3. Attached to the legs at the frontside thereof are horizontal can supporting bars 26, while to the rearside of the legs intermediate the bars 26 are rear bars 2'5 which engagethe back of the can. The bars 2% are carefully spaced apart such adistance that if the can support is tilted forwardly as shown in Fig. 6the tops of the cans engage the-under edge of the bar 265 above and arethus prevented from falling out of position. The upper row of cans isheld in place by a bar 23 extending between the legs of the frame 25.

To prevent slipping of the lower ends of the cans, the bars 25 areprovided with pairs of notches 29 which receive the bead at the lowerend of the can as indicated in Fig. 4. As the cans sometimes haveatendency to bulge at the ends, preferably the upper edge of the bar 26between each pair of notches is slightly con-. caved or otherwise cutaway.

As will be seen from Fig. l, hooks 3!) are provided at the lower part ofthe frame 1, with which engage a bar 3! on the frame 25 by means ofwhich the latter is supported. The frame, with the cans thereon,normally lies tilted against the side of the frame as shown in Fig. l,but it will be seen that it may readily be picked up and carried to amore convenient position nearer where the contents of the cans is to bedispensed.

What I claim as myinvention is:

In apparatus for crushing tincans and the like, the combination of asupport; an abutment on said support; a movable pressure head below saidabutment and adapted to co-operate with said abutment to receive betweenthem the can to be crushed; an operating rod for said head, saidoperating rod having a rack formed on one side thereof; a leverfulcrumed on the support; a pawl pivoted on the lever adapted to engagethe rack to lift the operating rod when the lever is rocked in onedirection and to slide over the rack when the lever is rocked in theopposite direction; a second pawl pivoted on said support adapted toengage the rack to hold the head in position while the lever is beingrocked in said opposite direction; a pull rod slidably mounted on thesupport and connected to said second pawl; and spring means normallytending to hold said pawl and rod in rackengaging position; said secondpawl being positioned when out of rack-engaging position to also engageand hold said first mentioned pawl out of rack engaging position.

DAVE) A. MCCOWAN.

